I am not the target market and that's ok but what the actual hell was going on with summer games fest
Some thoughts about the spectre of E3 and the state of Video Game Press Events™
Quick sidenote as we begin, I've noticed this thing where I often feel that posting photos to the blog by themselves is not enough, yet longer form blog posts (made by me) that don't have images feel wrong ALSO?? So the middle ground I've found is 'hey here's some unrelated photography to accompany some writing or thoughts' - hope it sticks. I miss Cohost.
And on that note before I get too far into it, please enjoy some daymoon 'One Subject, Three Lenses' photos from last week.
Ok let's jump in.
There's nothing quite like the summer Geoff fest to make me realize just how much I am not a target market for these kind of video games press events
And honestly - that's ok!! But it was a bit jarring to be two+ days into an ocean of trailer after trailer of some of the most uninteresting nonsense I've ever seen - I can't actually believe there's a market for all of this? I mean, there has to be or it wouldn't get made in such prolific numbers but c'mon:
Capitalism simulators (factory and otherwise), interchangeable FPS games, survival crafting games, hyperviolent horror, animal crossing and or stardew clones, "Survivors" games that have a word other than Vampire preceding them - it's wild how many titles shown (from the trailer presented at least) are just reduced to "It's X game that already exists with Y twist or spin, please be excited". (Note: I understand this is done to appease publishers / money people but it's TIRING)
Even the stuff I'm SUPER looking forward to - MIO (Memories in Orbit) is a metroidvania, Heart Machine's new game Possessors is a metroidvania, Final Fantasy Tactics: Ivalice Chronicles is an enhanced edition re-release of a nearly 30 year old playstation game that I still play at least once a week on my phone.
I get that this mostly is a me problem!
I think what catalyzed this was looking at the roundup news, or the "Everything announced at..." that sites like IGN and others put out for these events; it was almost exclusively things I couldn't care less about:
Resident Evil, Dying Light, Onimusha, Game of Thrones, Hitman, Scott Pilgrim; I get that the goal of these events is to hype up the 'big names' but my god - the only thing that really even appealed to me was the Bandai Namco action game - Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree. A new IP with an interesting art style that wasn't an FPS or focused on zombies and horror lmao (though, with the above point - it appears to be marketed as 'What if Hades was MORE anime')
So I went to check out the other shows
I respect the work the Wholesome Games team has done over the years but their showcase has almost become a parody of itself; if you were someone who drinks and played the 'take a shot every time farming, crafting, fishing, or 'this is clearly animal crossing, pokemon and or stardew' you'd be in the hospital getting your stomach pumped within the hour. I personally never want to farm or craft again in the world of videos game but I understand I'm a minority on this? Also while I expect capitalism simulators in other showcases it's BONKERS for those types of games to make an appearance at 'Wholesome Games'; at least Discounty has the self-awareness in the trailer that the "What if YOU became the Joja in Stardew Valley" is a bad thing for the community...but it looks like the game still has you do the capitalism anyway.
Another baffling addition that WG's made over the years is the inclusion of the...man, what do you even call these - 'Streamer breaks'? Instead of the developers talking about a game, the showcase cuts to seemingly unrelated streamers introducing titles by saying (and like, this feels mean but I'm being as honest to the experience as possible) "Hi I'm X, my community is all about reading books and being cozy, here are some more factoids about me - now a trailer". Granted, I'm not a streamer-watching-person but when I used to be, it was more of a 'yea I enjoy this person's content and I'll interact in chat' but these people are framing it like they are hosting a victorian-era salon every night with in-person philosophical discussions on the nature of coziness...and I don't get what they have to do with the games being shown? It's not even like "I started streaming because I was inspired by X genre, let's look at a new game in that space" it's just WEIRD. These can't possibly be paid placements but they sure as hell read like it? And no shade to these streamers but the vibe is BONKERS and they come out of nowhere.
The PC Gamer show I was excited about for two reasons - one I used to regularly play competitive Starcraft back in the day so Day9 being a host is an interesting pull, and I knew that Failbetter was announcing their new game there: I'm a Fallen London sicko, love Sunless Skies and Seas, super excited about this new title they've been teasing for months.
and I got absolutely hoisted
I know it'll probably be good!! But to be already so burnt out on farming and crafting games BEFORE watching another show that was 75% farming and crafting games, this one hurt
Didn't help that the writing for the PC Gaming show was like, horrendously cringe [derogatory; love me some Cringe, this was bad and painful to watch]. Sean Day9 Plott couldn't save it. The jokes in the script honestly felt like they were aimed at children; and before you give me the "But video games ARE for children!!", think about the narrative dissonance of that notion followed by trailers of hyperviolent horror games (or that gaming is one of the world's most expensive hobbies) - it feels like a massive gulf. We can do better, right?? There's a difference between Cringe and cringe.
Again, I'm clearly not the audience for this!!!
Admittedly, I had a great time with the Latin American showcase; but then I made the mistake of tuning into the Green Gaming showcase and uhh.
What the actual fuck was that supposed to be? Immediately barraged by games using AI art, feigning activism calls about climate distress (while using notoriously harmful-to-the-environment GenAI) and the "one more thing" finale was....the decades' old Telltale Walking Dead games? I have no idea who this was for, why it exists or what the goal was.
I skipped Microsoft due to the ongoing BDS boycott in support of Palestine. You should join it too - you get to:
- Save money by not subscribing to Gamepass
- Not have to deal with anything Microsoft puts out
- Put a dent in revenue giving them a hint that helping Israel is being complicit in the genocide of Palestinians. I've said it before: if you ever wanted to do some armchair activism, my god this is the easiest thing in the world.
Anyway I'm not trying to be negative and I don't even really go into these events with high hopes anymore but the ol' "our expectations were low but holy shit" light is flashing RAPIDLY.
End of the day (or multiple days) I did see some games I really liked even if they weren't super presented well. Added some wishlists, tried some demos. Video Games can remain good, even for people like me who look at a top seller list and can't be assed to care. I don't know when I became the "random weird shit on Itch" target market but I guess I'll take it lmao